Kiss Kiss
by Persephone Corelli
Summary: Charles manning a kissing booth. He really needs to learn how to tell Raven no.


"Come on, Charles, it's for a good cause." Raven wheedles trying to get his agreement.

Charles snorts softly into his hot tea. "I highly doubt the school needing new cheerleader uniforms counts as a good cause."

Raven sat next to him with a huff and a pout on her pretty face. She knew Charles had a hard time saying no when her bottom lip protruded.

Charles sighed after a moment. "Fine, but only one set. I refuse to sit there for more than one hour." He shook his head. "Probably a waste of time anyway, who wants to kiss the school valedictorian?"

Turns out a lot did.

There had been no one waiting in line when Charles took over for Darwin. Not two minutes after he took a seat a small crowd had formed.

Sighing softly he waved the first one forward and it was all downhill from there. There were people who kept trying to slip him tongue or grabbed his neck and wouldn't let him pull away. Some bit at his mouth or tried to suck on his plump lower lip. It was rather horrendous.

A few people he was sure had slipped back into line after already being kissed once. Most of them were the worst offenders. Charles set his spine and just willed the hour to be over.

Most surprising to Charles was the amount of males who appeared in line. When he agreed he never even considered he might have to kiss them as well as the women.

He tried to be fair and give the same peck to everyone, but it was odd kissing people who he barely even knew. It was odder still kissing his sister's friends. He had heard them giggle over him whenever Raven had her "girl's nights" and it was awkward letting their lips brush his. He felt like a cradle robber even if he was only a few years their senior.

What absolutely shocked him were the teachers in line. He would have thought that was against the rules, or at least illegal, but in the interest of raising money the school had allowed teachers to participate in all activities and that apparently also included Charles' lips.

Charles cringed inside every time he saw creepy Mr. Shaw at the head of the line. It had already happened three times and Charles could see a fourth in his near future. Mentally he cursed the passing of his 18th birthday, which had been cited as a loophole to allow teachers.

Alex, Hank and Sean were all good friends of his normally, but considering they kept getting in line to kiss him, Charles was seriously reconsidering hanging out with them on a daily basis. It was just weird to kiss them when he knew the things he did about them.

Hank was sheepishly polite about the whole thing and Charles forgave him a bit because he had a feeling Hank was only doing this to keep Alex and Sean from making his life hell.

Alex, the pest, was one of the annoying ones that kept trying to get Charles to open his mouth for a deeper kiss. Since he was Charles' friend, Charles felt no guilt whatsoever for biting as hard as he did in retaliation.

He flat out refused to kiss Sean until he had used some sort of breath freshener. Really, how Sean gets away with not being drug tested was beyond him.

The only person who did not seem to be seduced by Charles' mouth was bad boy/best friend Erik. Don't misunderstand, Charles did not want Erik to eagerly get in line with the masses, but, well, maybe, he, kind of, did.

The worst moment of his life came when Raven appeared before him.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Charles sounded absolutely scandalized. "I am not kissing you, you are my sister!"

Raven smirked. "It's not like you are making out with the people here." Her look turned sly. "Or are you?"

Charles buried his head in his hands. "No of course not. It is just a peck. Nothing I wouldn't….."

Raven grinned. "Nothing you wouldn't give your sister?"

Charles sighed.

It was getting a little disconcerting.

Charles was halfway through his allotted time in the kissing booth, how lovely of Raven to let him know before flouncing off, and Erik was still standing off to the side watching him.

It made Charles feel self-conscious every time the next person came up for their due kiss.

Whenever Charles found a rhythm to this kissing business, he always glanced over at Erik, met his eyes and promptly lost whatever it had been.

He really needed to stop looking over at him.

Emma, Janos and Azazel appeared and Charles winced at the thought of putting his mouth anywhere near those three. If rumors were true he would likely need shots to prevent contamination.

Janos kissed him softly and surprised him by merely stepping back.

Azazel made him feel dirty with just the look never mind the kiss that followed. (He actually had to wave Erik off when he started forward)

Emma, well, let's just say Emma is a biter and leave it at that.

Charles had been noticing for awhile that Moira was in line, but every time someone else came up she always let them cut in front of her. He was slightly relieved and also kind of curious. Why did she keep pulling herself back? Did she want to kiss him too much? Or was she just not wanting to seem like she was the only one who didn't?

Charles shrugged, cringed and motioned Mr. Shaw forward for the eighth time in 45 minutes. Really there should be a rule about this.

He sighed with relief when he saw Raven give him a thumbs up and stood behind Moira. That was the signal that his time in this infernal booth was over.

He tried not to be impatient with the few last kisses, but it was damnably hard considering this was the longest hour of his life. He really, really wanted lip balm, mouth wash and hot tea.

Amazingly, Moira actually approached once everyone else had moved on their way. Charles cocked his head. "You my replacement?"

Moira's eyes widened and she let out a low laugh. "Um, no. Why would you think that?"

Charles nodded at the line. "You've been here for awhile, but never approached so I figured you were just waiting for me to be done or something."

Moira flushed a bit. "No, no. I just…. Well it is silly really."

Charles tilted his head. "What is?"

Moira took a deep steadying breath. "Ijustwantedtobethelast."

Charles blinked slowly trying to make out the spaces in that sentence. "Excuse me."

Moira blushed hard. "I said I just wanted to be the last."

Charles tugged at his shirt feeling a blush creep up his neck. "Oh, um. Okay."

Charles felt the soft pressure of Moira's lips on his own and relaxed when she didn't try to do anything more.

Moira pulled back with a grin. "Your mouth really is made for kissing." With that she casually walked off to join her giggling friends.

Charles moved from the chair and walked over to where Erik was still standing when Angel relieved him.

Erik smirked at his friend's red lips. "Busy thing aren't you?"

Charles flushed. "Oh do shut up about it. It was for Raven. You know I cannot say no to her."

Erik chuckled. "Yeah, I know."

They fell into a comfortable silence as Charles shuffled his feet.

"So, my friend, why have you been standing here the whole time?"

Erik grinned. "You are not the only one who has trouble saying no to Raven. Apparently your mouth is something of a legend around school and she asked me to stand here and make sure no one took unfair advantage of you."

Charles' face flamed and his eyes went wide. "A legend? Surely you must be joking!"

Erik laughed. "Did you not notice that your line was ridiculous? I bet if you had agreed to man the booth all day the cheerleaders would have had new uniforms halfway in."

Charles covered his eyes with his hand and groaned. "Dear god, do not say that. I am sure they were just showing their support."

Erik shook his head. "Whatever helps you sleep tonight."

Charles tried to will away the mortification.

Erik slung a companionable arm over his shoulders. "I will say that I do not envy you with Emma, Azazel and Janos. Not to mention Shaw. Who decided to allow that?"

Charles chuckled a bit as his scornful tone. "Apparently since I am 18 the school board decided to allow teachers the chance to participate." He cringed a bit. "Shaw apparently took that to mean he could stand in line ten times." Charles still felt slightly mortified that Mrs. Summers, the organizer, had needed to forcefully remove Shaw from the line an 11th time, loudly reminding Shaw he was still a teacher and Charles was a student and it was rather ridiculous to constantly get back in line to kiss him. Charles felt it was ridiculous it was allowed, but…."As for the trio, I cannot wait to swish some mouth wash and get them away." His eyes narrow a bit. "Though I do not think I will forgive Sean and Alex for their stunt."

Erik dropped his arm and bit out a laugh. "Why is Hank absolved?"

Charles smiled a bit. "Oh it was painfully apparent that he was only participating to keep from being relentlessly teased by Sean and Alex. Plus he was a complete gentleman."

A moment of companionable silence fell.

Erik took a deep breath before he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "You know, I kind of feel left out."

Charles tilted his head. "Left out?"

Erik nodded. "I think the majority of the students and staff have gotten a kiss from you today. I feel left out."

Charles laughed. "I hardly think it was the majority, Erik"

Erik nodded. "Still seems unfair that Hank, Alex and Sean got a kiss, but your best friend is left with nothing."

Charles went still. "Are you saying you wanted to kiss me?"

Erik rubbed a hand nervously over his neck. "Well I suppose it is more I wanted to be the only one kissing you."

Charles stared at Erik a moment before glancing at the kissing booth. Angel was filing her nails and no one was in line. Tugging Erik's hand he pulled him over to the booth. A whispered comment to Angel and Charles was once again seated in position. "Well, here is your chance."

Erik grinned. "Do I have to pay?"

Charles grinned back. "Only in kisses."

It was the only time that day that Charles enjoyed the press of lips on his. He also gladly yielded to the tongue that soon followed.


End file.
